About this book

Introduction

This book reports on the latest advances in complex and nonlinear cardiovascular physiology aimed at obtaining reliable, effective markers for the assessment of heartbeat, respiratory, and blood pressure dynamics. The chapters describe in detail methods that have been previously defined in theoretical physics such as entropy, multifractal spectra, and Lyapunov exponents, contextualized within physiological dynamics of cardiovascular control, including autonomic nervous system activity. Additionally, the book discusses several application scenarios of these methods. The text critically reviews the current state-of-the-art research in the field that has led to the description of dedicated experimental protocols and ad-hoc models of complex physiology. This text is ideal for biomedical engineers, physiologists, and neuroscientists.